Coaching and Mentoring

Coaching

Coaching is one of the key approaches through which leadership in organisations can be developed. It’s a method of deploying techniques embedded in artful questioning and appreciative inquiry to help leaders unlock their full potential to achieve personal and professional success.

Amidst the typical characteristics of ambiguity and uncertainty in the leadership space, coaching can achieve clarity and direction.

Whether as a one-to-one focused and bespoke relationship or within a group context, coaching is often perceived as the single most effective development intervention that a senior leader in the NHS can access.

Mentoring

Mentoring is very different to coaching in terms of intent; support and guidance of a mentee is often led by one more experienced and skilled professional mentors, to support and expand the professional leadership development of the former through the effective transference of knowledge, skill and experience.  It can lead to enhanced innovation and performance within organisations, fueled by reflective practice, shared learning and improved ownership for solution focused thinking. The emphasis is on developing the leadership expertise of the mentee in a work context, with the process of mentoring encouraging independence, autonomy and self-development. Mentoring arrangements can often deliver improvements in an individual’s performance that lead to enhanced leadership maturity.

The four key drivers

The NHS Leadership Academy has identified the following four key drivers that underpin the purpose of Coaching and Mentoring in a wider leadership development and national context. Coaching and Mentoring are used:

1. to develop systems and place-based leadership at all levels to support population health
2. as a deliberate conduit to build leadership for inclusion
3. to shape and develop inclusive and systems-focused talent management and succession planning for the health and care economy
4. as enablers for the organisational development (OD) agenda for cultural transformation and redesign that places the pledge of the NHS constitution at the very heart of leadership practice for world class patient and citizen care.

The NHS Leadership Academy delivers two national coaching and mentoring programmes; the Return to Work Mentoring programme and the Ethical Mentoring programme. You can find out more information and details about the application process by following the programme links.

If you have any questions about how the Academy can support you with coaching and mentoring, please contact Charmaine Kwame-Odogwu.

Local coaching and mentoring offers

You can also find out about local coaching and mentoring offers through your local leadership academy. Please click the relevant link below or contact your regional lead for more information:

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